Stroke Archive

Stroke symptoms that go away on their own are still a medical emergency. Get to a hospital as fast as you can.

Every stroke is a medical emergency because it means that blood flow to part of the brain has been interrupted. Everyone needs to be able to recognize the signs of a stroke and get to a hospital fast because "time is brain." The longer you wait, the more brain cells could die.

Taking cholesterol-lowering statins can reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke in people with no history of heart disease, although it doesn't seem to have an impact on their risk of death.

Treatment options to improve life with atrial fibrillation.

Multiple treatment options are making atrial fibrillation less deadly.

Atrial fibrillation (AFib) itself isn't always the main problem for the four million Americans who have the condition—some also have a high risk of stroke. In AFib, the heart quivers when it should be beating, and blood pools inside the heart when it should be pumping though the body. Strokes occur when the stagnant blood thickens and forms clots that travel to the brain.

Women are less likely than men to receive clot-dissolving medicine for an ischemic stroke (caused by a blockage in an artery to the brain), likely because they are delayed in getting to the hospital for treatment.

People who eat more than two servings of fruit each day have a 25% lower risk of an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and a 43% lower risk of having a ruptured AAA than people who eat the least fruit, Swedish researchers report in the journal Circulation.

Dr. Otto Stackelberg of Stockholm's Karolinska Institute led a research team that analyzed data on over 80,000 men and women ages 46 to 84 at the start of the study. After 13 years, 1,086 of the study participants had developed an AAA, a life-threatening ballooning of the largest artery in the body. A burst or ruptured AAA is fatal unless immediately treated; 222 of the study participants suffered AAA rupture.

A study in The Journal of the American Medical Association highlights the critical importance of reaching a hospital as soon as possible after a stroke. When a clot blocks blood flow in the brain, causing an ischemic stroke, timing is everything. The sooner the person receives medication to break up the clot, the less damage occurs. Researchers examined health records of a national sample of over 58,000 people who got a clot-busting drug, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), at nearly 1,400 hospitals. Half got the drug within 144 minutes; only 9% were treated within 90 minutes.

It's vital that anyone with signs of stroke get to a hospital as soon as possible, because "time is brain." Once a stroke starts, it continues to damage the brain until blood flow is re-established. Prompt care sharply reduces deaths and disability.

It appears people with stroke-like symptoms are more likely to develop cognitive problems than people who do not have stroke symptoms.

Every move toward heart health reduces stroke risk by 8%.

It's time to learn your "Life's Simple 7" score, because even a small improvement can mean a big drop in your risk of having a stroke.

A minor stroke or transient ischemic attack (mini-stroke or TIA) is a frightening event. It's often followed within a few days or weeks by a more serious stroke. Rapid treatment of a minor stroke or TIA with aspirin and clopidogrel (Plavix) can help prevent a repeat stroke.

The finding comes from a Chinese study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study enrolled more than 5,000 people with underlying stroke risk factors, relatively minor strokes, or major TIAs (but not people with quickly passing dizziness or brief visual or sensory events).

When it comes to treating stroke, time is brain and every minute counts. That tenet was supported yet again by an international study showing that the sooner clot-busting treatment is begun—preferably within 90 minutes of the onset of stroke symptoms—the greater the chances of surviving a stroke without a disability. This finding makes it even more important to recognize the warning signs of stroke. Think FAST: Face (when the person smiles, does one side droop?), Arms (when the person lifts both arms, does one drift down?), Speech (is the person’s speech slurred or incomplete?), and Time (if one or more stroke signs are present, call 911 right away and get the person to the nearest hospital with an emergency department—better yet, to one with a stroke center).